Please join WLMA in welcoming Dr. Teresa K. Woodruff, PhD – Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Founder and Director of the Institute for Women’s Health Research. Dr. Woodruff will discuss women’s health and the sex and gender dynamic that affects women and our relationship with medicine.

Do you have questions about breast cancer treatment options, family history, integrative medicine, diagnosis and support? The Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Town Hall Meeting, hosted by the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, provides an opportunity to have your questions answered by experts, visit exhibits of breast cancer advocacy organizations and products, and to learn about local and national support services.

Dr. Cynthia R. LaBella, MD, kicked-off the second year of the Women’s Health Research Monthly Forum, on September 22, 2009, by presenting her research on knee injuries in female adolescent athletes to an audience of over 150 professionals from the Northwestern community. Dr. Labella is the Medical Director of the Institute for Sports Medicine at Children’s Memorial Hospital and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

The NIH has a pretty cool monthly podcast called “Pinn Point on Women’s Health,” which is hosted by Dr. Vivian Pinn, director of the NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health. For September, the topic was Autoimmune Disease in women (NIH summary and directions for downloading the podcast can be found here.)

On September 9, President Obama gave a speech to the joint houses of Congress laying out his plan for health care reform. No matter what your personal politics, the outcome of such reform regulation is going to affect us all. With that in mind, we thought it would be helpful to lay out some of the basic tenets of the President’s plan, at least as it was outlined in the speech. A full transcript of the speech can be found here.

After reading Alison’s excellent blog entry regarding the efficacy of self-exams at detecting breast cancer, I’ve been thinking more about women’s choices regarding both prevention, as well as treatment, for breast cancer. I think Christina Applegate’s decision to have a mastectomy to treat her breast cancer really surprised me; it seemed such a drastic choice for a young, seemingly healthy woman, especially one who makes a living based partly on her physical appearance.